(We thank Merciful Love
in Fresno, California, for their permission for our reprinting and
distributing this article excerpted from their publication: Divine Love,
#3, 1958.)

(click to enlarge)

One of the least understood parts of the message of Fatima, is the request
made by the Blessed Virgin Mary, that people consecrate themselves to her
Immaculate Heart. Yet, this consecration really is very easy to
understand; is a perfectly natural request for our Heavenly Mother to make
of her children; and give her a very powerful weapon for offsetting evil,
saving souls and the world, and preserving peace.

According to St. Louis de Montfort, and many other saints, Almighty God
has established His Blessed Mother as Mediatrix of All Graces; that all
the treasures of Heaven have been placed in her care, to dispense "to
whom she wills, as much as she wills, as she wills, and when she wills."
(True Devotion, No. 25). Some say this will be the next
dogma to be defined by the Church. The Mexican Hierarchy already has
petitioned the Holy See to this end. The word "consecrate" means to set
aside for a particular purpose and no other. For example, the chalice the
priest uses in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, is a consecrated object,
and cannot be used for anything else. The Blessed Mother is asking us to
do the same thing—reserve ourselves exclusively for her use. Each of us
has a free will. We can be consecrated for good or evil. For good, by
giving ourselves to God, through His Mother, in leading Christian lives
and obeying the Commandments. For evil, by giving ourselves up to the
pleasures and sins of the world. Mary is asking us to give ourselves to
Jesus through her, so she can protect us against the snares of the devil,
who is trying to destroy our souls for all eternity. In an apparition to
a young girl in Germany in 1946 the Blessed Mother reportedly stated: "If
you consecrate yourselves to me without reserve, I shall take care of all
the rest." Isn't it logical that, in proportion to our love for Mary,
and the degree to which we live our consecration to her, she in turn, will
pour out upon us the infinite treasures of Heaven, spiritual and material,
which God has placed at her disposal? The Little Flower once wrote: "The
treasures of a Mother belong to her children; and I am thy child, O, Dear
Mother Mary." (Daily Thoughts from the Little Flower)
And the greatest treasure Mary gives those who truly are her children, is
her Divine Son, Jesus Christ, and happiness with Him forever.

Mary Wants to Protect Us

From a purely practical point of view, the Mother of God wants us to
consecrate ourselves to her Immaculate Heart for two reasons: (1) To
protect us and our families in the momentous days ahead; (2) To get help
from us to save sinners from Hell.

When we consecrate ourselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we are, in
effect, placing ourselves, our homes and our families under Our Lady's
protection, admitting that we need her help in the dangers ahead—be they
spiritual or physical. At the same time, we give to her our prayers,
sacrifices and merits from good works that she may use to help save many
souls from Hell—including our own.

Anyone who has ever lived on a farm knows that, when a storm arises, the
mother hen usually runs out and tries to gather all the little chickens
under her wings. If they remain there, they may look out and be
frightened at the thunder, lightening and rain, but they have nothing to
fear, for the mother hen will protect them.

It is the same with our Blessed Mother. We are all her children. She
loves us very much. She does not want to see any harm come to us, any
more than we want to see our children harmed. She has promised a great
triumph of her Immaculate Heart. There are indications this may come
soon. But before it comes, there is liable to be a period of storm and
danger. The Blessed Mother can see this coming, even if we cannot. So
our Heavenly Mother is hurrying about as fast as she can, trying to gather
all her children, who will listen, under her mantle of protection while
there is still time. Those who will do so, by granting her requests and
consecrating themselves to her, may look out in the days to come, and may
be frightened at what they may see. This may include the destruction of
cities, but, especially the despair of those who will have built their
hopes in material security, and will see their castles come tumbling to
the ground. Yet the Blessed Mother tells her children they will have
nothing to fear, for she will protect them spiritually and materially,
come what may.

Another very important reason, is to get help to save the souls of dying
sinners from Hell. At Fatima, after Our Lady had shown the three children
the horrible vision of Hell, she stated sadly: "Many poor sinners go
to Hell because they have no one to pray or make sacrifice for them. To
help save them, God wishes to establish in the world the devotion to my
Immaculate Heart."

What Consecration Does

When we consecrate ourselves to Mary Immaculate, in proportion to how
completely we live this consecration, all our thoughts, words, actions,
prayers, suffering, merits from our good works, and the fulfillment of
daily duties, take on a stupendous increase in value. Then, the Blessed
Mother can do much more with all these things than if we are not
consecrated. This can be explained by various examples.

In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the priest uses three ingredients:
water, wine and a host or wafer of bread. The total monetary value of
these is very low. Yet, when the priest pronounces the words of
consecration, these articles take on an infinite value, and become the
Body and Blood of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Then, tremendous
graces flow through Them for the salvation of souls. We cannot see the
change, but our faith tells us it has taken place.

Our thoughts, words, actions, prayers, and sacrifices, of themselves,
certainly are not very powerful in trying to save a world from destruction
or many souls from Hell. Yet, when we consecrate ourselves to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary, all we give her increases greatly in value; Mary
herself adds the extra value in proportion to our degree of consecration.
We cannot see the change, any more than we can see the change of the bread
and wine into the Body and Blood of Our Lord. Yet Mary assures us that it
takes place, and she is able to accomplish much more with what we have
given her. Thus, those consecrated to Mary could be the means of buying
the grace of salvation for many of other souls. It often has been said: "For
the sake of the few, many will be saved."

It is also logical that if we help Mary save other souls, she will help us
save our own. Our Lord once told Sister Josepha Menendez (The Way
of Divine Love) that if He finds one soul in a family, who lives
for His sake, gives Him all that He asks, sacrifices herself for Him and
does not count the cost—in other words, is totally consecrated to Him—for
the sake of that one, He will save all the members of that soul's family,
so long as they are willing to be saved. If the soul does not wish to be
saved in spite of the graces God may give, then that soul will not be
saved. But there may be many in a family, away from God through fear,
ignorance, pride, misunderstanding, weakness, or other reasons, who truly
would like to be at peace with Him. All these, for the sake of the one
totally given to God, can be saved.

Mary Purifies Our Gifts

The same is true of those totally consecrated to Mary; for, as St. Louis
de Montfort writes, when we consecrate ourselves to her, we really
consecrate ourselves to Jesus through Mary.

There are many good souls who do not like the idea of going to Jesus
through Mary. They want to go directly to "headquarters"—to Jesus,
Himself—with their petitions and offerings. They do not seem to realize
that, when they approach Our Lord directly, they are going on their own
merits alone. No matter how good they may be, their prayers and offerings
cannot possibly have the same value as would be the case if they placed
them in the hands of Mary. In proportion to their consecration of love
for her, Mary would add many merits of her own. She would then present
their offering or request to God. Having lived with Jesus 30 years, Mary,
more than anyone else, certainly knows the way to His Heart. If we place
our cares, needs and gifts in her hands she will cleanse and purify them,
and add what is necessary to make them pleasing and acceptable in the
sight of Almighty God, Our Father. Thus, we stand a much better chance of
having our requests granted. If we do not get what we ask—because it may
not be for our spiritual good—then Mary will obtain for us other needed
graces. One way or the other, we will not be turned away empty-handed.

As we have written so often, no devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is a
true devotion if it does not lead the soul closer to Jesus and more
frequent reception of the Sacraments, and obedience to God's Laws.

Jesus and Mary are NOT in competition with each other. Rather, both are
as one in desiring, seeking and working for the salvation of souls. The
Blessed Virgin Mary was given to us as our Mother, at the foot of the
Cross, out of the providence, love and mercy of God for all poor sinners.

At Fatima Our Lady revealed not just her will, but the WILL OF ALMIGHTY
GOD, concerning devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate
Heart of Mary, when she said: "Tell everybody that God gives graces
through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Tell them to ask graces from her,
AND THAT THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS WISHES TO BE VENERATED TOGETHER WITH
THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY. Ask them to plead for peace from the
Immaculate Heart of Mary, for the Lord has confided the peace of the world
to her."